Lone Star

Lone Star
Paullina Simons

Lone Star is another unforgettable love story from the best-selling author of Tully and The Bronze Horseman.Life isn’t about the destination, but the journey…Chloe is eager to drink in the sights and sounds of the Old World as she embarks on a European adventure with her closest friends. Buried in the treasures of the fledgling post-Communist world, Chloe finds a charming American vagabond named Johnny, who carries a guitar, an easy smile – and a lifetime of secrets.As she and her unlikely travelling companions traverse the continent, a train trip becomes a treacherous journey into Europe's and Johnny's darkest past – a journey that shatters Chloe's future plans and puts in jeopardy everything she thought she wanted.From Treblinka to Trieste, from Carnikava to Krakow, the lovers and friends crack the facade that sustains their lifelong bonds to expose their truest, deepest desires and discover only one thing that's certain: whether or not they reach their destination, their lives will never be the same.

Copyright (#uceeae01c-a77b-570f-862c-15cba051a8dd)

Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

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www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published in Great Britain by Harper 2015

Copyright © Paullina Simons 2015

Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2015

Cover photographs © Patryce Bak/Cultura/Corbis (girl); Gary Cook/Robert Harding/Corbis (background).

Paullina Simons asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780007441631

Ebook Edition © March 2015 ISBN: 9780007441648

Version: 2015-05-06

Praise for Paullina Simons (#uceeae01c-a77b-570f-862c-15cba051a8dd)

Tully

“You’ll never look at life in the same way again. Pick up this book and prepare to have your emotions wrung so completely you’ll be sobbing your heart out one minute and laughing through your tears the next. Read it and weep—literally.” Company

Red Leaves

“Simons handles her characters and setting with skill, slowly peeling away deceptions to reveal denial, cowardice and chilling indifference … an engrossing story.” Publishers Weekly

Eleven Hours

“Eleven Hours is a harrowing, hair-raising story that will keep you turning the pages late into the night.” Janet Evanovich

The Bronze Horseman

“A love story both tender and fierce.” Publishers Weekly

Tatiana and Alexander

“This has everything a romance glutton could wish for: a bold, talented and dashing hero [and] a heart-stopping love affair that nourishes its two protagonists even when they are separated and lost.” Daily Mail

The Girl in Times Square

“Part mystery, part romance, part family drama … in other words, the perfect book.” Daily Mail

The Summer Garden

“If you’re looking for a historical epic to immerse yourself in, then this is the book for you.” Closer

Road to Paradise

“One of our most exciting writers … Paullina Simons presents the perfect mix of page-turning plot and characters.” Woman and Home

A Song in the Daylight

“Simons shows the frailties of families and of human nature, and demonstrates that there’s so much more to life, such as honesty and loyalty.” Good Reading

Bellagrand

“Another epic saga from Simons, full of the emotion and heartache of the original trilogy. Summer reading at its finest.” Canberra Times

Dedication (#uceeae01c-a77b-570f-862c-15cba051a8dd)

To Natasha, my first resplendent light

Epigraph (#uceeae01c-a77b-570f-862c-15cba051a8dd)

There will be time to murder and create,

And time for all the works and days of hands

That lift and drop a question on your plate;

Time for you and time for me,

And time yet for a hundred indecisions,

And for a hundred visions and revisions.

T.S. Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”